Stoops: Punch now would bring ban

Elon’s Steven Santa Ana is tripped by Duke’s Grayson Allen during the first half. Allen had two tripping incidents last season as a sophomore, one against Florida State that sparked a reprimand from the ACC.

NORMAN, Okla. — Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said Wednesday that Joe Mixon would be off the team if he had punched a woman now instead of 2½ years ago, when he suspended the running back for a year in a move that has drawn sharp criticism.

Mixon was suspended after punching OU student Amelia Molitor in 2014. Mixon returned last year and helped the Sooners reach the College Football Playoff, and he has been a standout this year for No. 7 Oklahoma.

In reversing course, Stoops said he believed the then-18-year-old could redeem himself. He said times have changed, and society now has a no-tolerance policy on domestic violence incidents. "Two-and-a-half-years later, dismissal is really the only thing that is possible," Stoops said. "A young guy having an opportunity to rehabilitate and to have some kind of discipline and come back from it is really not there anymore. Hopefully that message goes down even to the high school level, that these things are just unacceptable to any degree."

Mixon entered an Alford plea at the time, acknowledging there was likely enough evidence to convict him of misdemeanor assault while still asserting his innocence. He did not serve jail time and was ordered to perform 100 hours of community service and undergo counseling.

In video released Tuesday, Mixon sat stone-faced as he, his mother and police officers watched footage of him knocking out Molitor with a punch, breaking her jaw and cheekbone, at a local restaurant.

The video of Mixon telling his side of the story three days after the July 2014 incident was released by Norman police. The department released the video less than a week after Mixon's attorneys released video showing the attack.

In the video released by police on Tuesday, Mixon said a friend of Molitor's blew smoke in his face unintentionally, and Mixon stood to avoid the smoke. He then said Molitor walked up and intentionally blew smoke in his face.

According to Mixon, Molitor was rude to several of Mixon's teammates. Mixon said the male with Molitor called him a racial slur, and Mixon responded with a homosexual slur. Mixon said Molitor dropped her purse and hit him. He then said he lunged at her and said, "Watch out." He said she hit him again, hard enough for his face to start ringing, and he hit her. "I was shocked because she hit me so hard," he said. "It felt like a dude hit me."

Basketball: More tripping for Duke's Allen

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Duke guard Grayson Allen picked up a first-half technical foul after tripping Elon's Steven Santa Ana in a 72-61 win for the No. 5 Blue Devils (12-1), the third such incident in two years for the junior. "I made another mistake," Allen said after as he fought back tears. "I have to try to be better again, just like I tried to be better from last year." Coach Mike Krzyzew­ski sat Allen for the rest of the half, but he played in the second half. Afterward, Allen and Krzyzewski met with Santa Ana and Elon coach Matt Matheny for Allen to apologize. "I had a long talk with him afterwards," Krzyzew­ski said. "And the right thing to do was to apologize in person." The ACC reprimanded Allen last season for tripping FSU's Xavier Rathan-Mayes, which came a few weeks after Allen received a flagrant foul for tripping Louisville's Ray Spalding.

GATORS ROMP IN NEW DIGS: Devin Robinson scored 21, KeVaughn Allen added 19 and Florida opened its revamped arena with a 94-71 victory against Arkansas-Little Rock. "It was rocking in there," UF coach Mike White said. "It was fun. It was loud." The Gators (9-3) hit 21 of their first 28 shots in Exactech Arena and built a 29-point lead that turned the grand opening into an early exit for many of the 10,000-plus on hand. Florida spent $64.5 million to upgrade the decades-old O'Connell Center.

L'VILLE UPSETS KENTUCKY: Quentin Snider scored a career-high 22, including a key drive with 1:44 left, and Jaylen Johnson and Donovan Mitchell combined for four points in the final 16 seconds to help No. 10 Louisville beat No. 6 Kentucky 73-70 in the 50th battle for Bluegrass bragging rights. After managing just two rebounds in 28 minutes last year in Lexington, Snider rebounded with 10-of-19 shooting to help the host Cardinals earn a signature win. Malik Monk's 3 to tie for UK (10-2) bounced off the front of the rim with three seconds left, and Deng Adel grabbed the rebound to seal it for Louisville (11-1). The tense ending was fitting in a thriller that featured 10 ties and nine lead changes.

There is a reason why the air in Tampa Bay is filled with playoff talk. If Thursday night's 12-8 Bucs preseason win over the Jaguars is any indication, it's also going to be filled with footballs thrown by quarterback Jameis Winston.

TORONTO — Two pitches RHP Chris Archer didn't execute are the ones that stood out Thursday as Josh Donaldson hit them out of the park. But the two solo home runs aside, Archer turned in a sterling outing that went atop the pile of good pitching the Rays keep wasting.

CLEARWATER — Tracey Fritzinger has seen Tim Tebow play baseball a few times this year. The 40-year-old St. Petersburg resident went to two of his games against the Tampa Yankees, along with Joy, her little sister from Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.